Support Palestinian hunger strikers

Ramallah, 10 May 2012 – Addameer lawyer Mona Neddaf visited four hunger strikers in Ramleh prison medical clinic today, including Thaer Halahleh, now on his 73rd day of hunger strike. According to Ms. Neddaf, Thaer’s condition continues to deteriorate. The prison doctor has said to Thaer that he could die at any moment. Thaer has lost significant weight, and now weighs 55 kg. He has exceedingly low blood pressure and his temperature is fluctuating at dangerous levels. In addition to vomiting blood, Thaer is also bleeding from his gums and lips. The prison doctor also told him that he now has an infection in part of his body. Thaer is drinking water, but not taking any vitamins or minerals. Though he is very weak, Ms. Neddaf reported that mentally he is still strong. Thaer was supposed to receive a visit from his family today, but the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) cancelled the visit yesterday. The health of Mohammad Taj, now on his 54th day of hunger strike, is also at a dangerous level. In addition, Jaafar Azzedine, on his 50th day of hunger strike, reported that he had stopped drinking water for a short period but has started to drink again, with minerals and vitamins. Nidal Shehadeh, who began his hunger strike on 17 April as part of the mass hunger strike, was moved back from a public hospital to Ramleh prison two days prior. He is on hunger strike in protest of receiving inadequate medical treatment while in prison. Ms. Neddaf noted that all the prisoners on hunger strike in Ramleh prison are in isolated rooms. She further reported that they continue to be threatened by the IPS. Even at this stage of hunger strike, they have been told that if they do not stand for the “daily count”, they will not be permitted lawyer visits. Addameer fears for the lives of Thaer, Bilal Diab, also on his 73rd day of hunger strike, Hassan Safadi, who is now on his 67th day of hunger strike, Omar Abu Shalal, who is now on his 65th day of hunger strike, and all the other prisoners on hunger strike whose critical conditions are being blatantly disregarded by Israel and the prison authorities. Addameer reiterates its call for immediate action on behalf of the hunger strikers.

Meanwhile, 35 Irish legislators and two ministers “including independents and deputies and senators from all political parties and groups in the Dáil [House] and Seanad [Senate] have signed their names to a petition calling for an immediate response to the ongoing mass hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails,” according to a statement posted by Sinn Fein. The statement said the parliamentarians would attempt to raise the issue of the Palestinian hunger strikes in the Irish parliament today.

Horrendous policy “So many of [the prisoners’] rights are being violated out of the wrong perception that if Israel isolates them, it can win the struggle and it can break the hunger strike,” she explained. “I think that this is such a short-sighted and horrendous policy and I think that if independent doctors, lawyers and family visits would have been enabled, one would have seen a resolution that could have saved lives.” It is estimated that Israel has arrested and detained over 750,000 Palestinians since it began occupying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem in 1967. According to PHR-I, between 1,500-2,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently participating in the hunger strike, which was launched on 17 April. It is the latest in a string of large-scale hunger strikes that began in late 2011 to draw attention to worsening conditions in Israeli prisons, including the widespread use of solitary confinement, the denial of family visits, and Israel’s use of administrative detention. “Administrative detention actually is arresting someone without any charges and without fair trial procedures. It’s based on secret information that is not offered to the detainee and his lawyer and the detainee definitely doesn’t know the reasons behind his arrest,” explained Sahar Francis, director of Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner support organization. “The other problem with administrative detention is that it is not limited in time, which means that they can renew the order, and means that people can spend years upon years in administrative detention.” Recently, Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan spent 66 days on hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment under an Israeli administrative detention order before being released in April. Another prisoner, Hana al-Shalabi, also spent weeks on hunger strike before being released and forcibly transferred to the Gaza Strip.